This week has started off on a cold front for those on the Highveld, serving as a reminder that the winter is just around the corner. The drop in temperature also brings with concerns over a third wave of infections for COVID-19 in South Africa, which is why the scheduled second phase of the Sisonke Protocol vaccine rollout later this month will be crucial.

Presently the National Department of Health (NDoH) is working to get more batches into the country, as well as ramp up its capacity as far as its ability to vaccinate is concerned.

While we await news on both fronts, the department’s latest report shows that 329 098 vaccines have been administered to date.

Other statistics from the report confirm that over 10.71 million tests have been conducted to date, with 897 new cases being recorded over the past 24 hours. The latter sees the total number of infections recorded to date climb to 1 584 961. The NDoH also confirms that the recovery rate remains at 95 percent, with 1 508 558 recorded so far.

Unfortunately, 35 new fatalities have also been reported over the past 24 hours, with KwaZulu-Natal accounting for the most with 16. It is followed by Gauteng and the Free State with seven and six respectively. The death toll related to COVID-19 in South Africa has since climbed to 54 452.

The full breakdown of COVID-19 in South Africa is as follows:

As always, in order to stay up to date with the spread of COVID-19 in South Africa and abroad, we advise the following materials and platforms:

• Dr Zweli Mkhize on Twitter
• COVID-19 Connect on WhatsApp – add 0600 123 456 as a contact and say “Hi”.
• World Health Organisation
• SA Coronavirus website
• SA Government
• SA Presidency

[Image – Photo by Mat Napo on Unsplash]